Train of the Week

Train of the week is a new feature that were are starting in August 2018 and hope to feature every week subject to how manic it gets with new product launches. Of course it is subject to how succesful the concept is and on going sales from it but it is not just about that it is also about showing ideas and putting together locos, coaches and wagons from various manufacturers together into a realistic train. Most featured items are standard stock items and we can always recreate it again to customer's own specifications with either more or less items of rolling stock or even different liveries as required

As such even when completed and sold we will leave them on the list as inspiration for short, simple trains that you may want to tackle yourself or leave us to do for you subject to items still being available and a new "Train of the Week" should be added every Thursday and we intend changing the era and type of train to keep it fresh and different.

4th June 2020

Air Braked Open Freight

The OAA and OBA types were open wagons with steel ends and wooden dropside doors were built in the 1970s to replace much of the aging freight stock and used on Air-Braked Network (ABN, later Speedlink) services.

A decline in general merchandise traffic affected the fleet and many of the OBAs were transferred to departmental use within a few years. Later, both types saw a variety of modifications and conversions for other duties.

Here we are showing one of the Heljan Class 50 in BR blue livery that we have numbered along with a rake of BR bauxite OAA's. Here we have shown 8 that have just been completed through the workshop, both the Class 50 and OAA's are for sale but we have limited stocks of the OAA's. Heljan produced the OAA's, VDA's and Claaa B tankers several Stocks of all types are sadly now running very low and Heljan have no plans to re-run any of these due to the price quote from China on the cost of the re-runs. Once we have sold out of these they have no plans to re-run any of these three popular wagons.

Details of the Heljan Class 50 can be found through this link and details of the remaining Heljan Freight Stockthrough this link. The rake of six OAAs are just over 5 foot long and the loco around the 18 inch mark so a train at under 7 foot. We have completed eight of the OAA's in total in the bauxite livery and also have a mixed rake of six weathered OAAs in railfreight red grey / ABN livery available of the shelf. There are still some of the clean versions available but not many now.

Heljan Class 50

Heljan Class 50 - clean finish and choice of liveries

£594.15

Heljan Class 50 named and numbered

Heljan Class 50 custom named and numbered

£644.15

Heljan Class 50 weathered

Heljan Class 50 custom named and numbered

£684.15

Heljan OAAs

Heljan OAA's - various liveries

£70.00

Heljan OAA's

Heljan OAA's custom weathered (8 in bauxite available from stock and 6 in railfeight red grey)

£90.00

21st May 2020

Parcels Railcar

Sticking with the principle of small trains we have here a short postal service this week with the Heljan Class 128 Parcels Railcar in BR blue livery livery along with one of the Dapol six wheel milk tankers that has been added on for either empty returns or dairy pick up.

When you think about postal trains many people immediately think of the large travelling Post Office trains but there were others delivery post from the cities to outlying towns and areas.

Both items here have been lightly weathered and are a nice short complete train. The overall length of the train shown is just over 80 cms or just over 47cms for the Class 128 on it's own.

Details of the Heljan Class 128 can be found through this link and details of the six wheel milk tankers through this link.Dapol milk tankers Alternatively the Heljan BG and GUV are very useful vehicles found as an addition to a freight train, as part of a dedicated parcels train or as an addition to a passenger train.Heljan Mk1 coach

Next week with it being a bank holiday on Monday we will not be doing one of these due to lack of time so back with the next Train of the Week the begining of June.

Heljan Class 128

Heljan Class 128 - clean finish and choice of liveries

£475.00

Heljan Class 128

Heljan Class 128 - weathered finish and choice of liveries

£515.00

Dapol six wheel milk tankers

Dapol six wheel milk tankers - various liveries

£70.00

Weathered Dapol milk tankers

Dapol six wheel milk tankers - various liveries custom weathered

£95.00

14th May 2020

Mixed fitted freight

Another one based around items being completed through the workshop with a mixture of customer items and items available off the shelf.

Here we have one of the Tower Models Limited Edition Class 42 Warships in green livery that has been completed as D829 "Magpie" and lightly weathered. To complement this we have a mixed rake of Dapols' fitted BR vans with some planked vans along with both plywood vans and banana vans..

After completing the customer advance orders for these popular van types they have now completed examples of all three types available off the shelf along with two Warships, Magpie as shown here and a blue example of Intrepid.

Here is a link to the available options of the Heljan Class 42 Warship Heljan Warship

Heljan Class 42 in a choice of liveries, factory named and numbered but custom weathered

£590.00

Heljan Warship

Heljan Class 42 in a choice of liveries, custom named and numbered and custom weathered

£640.00

Tower Models Ltd Ed vans

Set of 6 BR planked or plywood vans

£255.00

Dapol Banana Vans

Set of 6 BR planked or plywood vans, custom weathered

£405.00

Dapol Banana Vans

4 livery options of banana vans

£42.50 each

Dapol Banana Vans

4 livery options of banana vans, custom weathered

£67.50 each

8th May 2020

North Wales Shunting

Very short one today as we have been busy with the arrival of the Peco restocks and as such it is a day later than normal. I have kept this one for a few months now for just such a situation and although not a train, it is a very interesting piece and better than posting nothing for the week!

When Dapol originally announce the production of the Y1/Y3 shunter they announced one as 68163 as BR (ex LNER). People may of noticed that Dapol like producing local model to their local area and this one operated in and around Wrexham post war. This version never made it to production sadly and one customer who is modelling the area asked if we could recreat it for him.

Interesting with this series of original images you can see the plain 6 has been added to the LNER shaded numbers early on to avoid any confusion with GWR locos and both the L from LNER on one side and the R from LNER closest to the cab door in both cases are a little cleaner than the rest of the lettering where the driver has obviously attempted to clean the loco up from both sides

The keen eyes will also see the Wrexham Rhosddu 6E shedplate that is also featured on the model.

This final image is obviously of the loco at an earlier stage where it is nothing like as dirty but what is interersting with this image is just seeing how high they have piled the coal up with some even on the roof! Coal is something the customer is doing himself as we avoid fitting coal due to the risk of it coming adrift and the risk to scratching paintwork in transit.

It was an interesting custom job to do and both we and the customer were happy with the overall finish, just one we would like to have to do again. Just a pity that Dapol never produced this example as a standard model in the end.

Here is a link to the available options of the Dapol Sentinel Dapol Y1/Y3

Dapol Y1/Y3

Dapol Y1 / Y3 in various liveries clean finish

£148.75

Y1/Y3 Weathered

Dapol Y1 / Y3 in various factory finishes, custom weathered

£173.75

30th April 2020

Van Traffic

The workshop are getting on nicely with the brand new sets of BR planked and plywood vans for weathering and we should hopefully have the first sets coming through from the workshop next week. they have taken the opportunity to photograph the first of them for me.

Here we are showing the full set of 6 planked vans hauled by one of the Heljan Class 25/3 with one of the Slaters kit built BR brake vans all of which have been weathered through the workshop.The Class 25/3's are starting to run low now as Heljan have now completely sold out of these and we only have a handful of each left with the BR Post TOPS livery having already sold out.

Freight was the bread-and-butter of the railways and the iconic BR van a mainstay of haulage in the 1950's and 60's. I will always remember a customer who used to work in a signal box in Lancashire telling me of huge rakes of BR vans travelling every day south from the mill towns to the docks.

Second here is a rake of the plywood vans instead of the planked version. Over 500 of these were built in the 1950s and were a cheaper build cost compared to the planked version.

With both the planked and plywood sets of vans each one has a different number that has also not been used by Dapol before so perfect to either start a van train or to bulk out current wagon stock.

Then finally in these last two images is a mix of both planked and plywood vans, eher showing just seven but trains could be easily over 20 of 30 in real life so the limit is really what you have space for on the layout.

23rd April 2020

Banana Traffic

Well, last week was rather hectic at the end of the week with the three simultaneous launches; the Dapol Banana vans, re-run of the standard BR 10ft vans and opens and finally the Tower Models limited edition sets of both plywood and planked vans.

It is good to have new items to feature and the workshop have been working all week on the first of these for customers. Here we have utilised one of the new Dapol 14xx Autotanks along with 5 of the banana vans and finally to finish off the rake a Slaters kit built brake van; all of which have been weathered through the workshop. The Slaters brake van is actually the workshops own as we have now sold out of the Dapol BR bauxite vac fitted brake vans but we do still have stocks of the BR grey version from Dapol

The transport of bananas from the docks to the distribution warehouses used to provide considerable traffic for the railways. The arrival of a banana boat at places such as Avonmouth, Garston, or Barry would often result in the running of a number of special fitted-freight trains to distribute the fruit around the country. Insulated vans were used to ensure that the bunches were not exposed to extremes of temperature during their journey, some also being steam-heated to assist in ripenning the fruit.

The yellow dots and company markings for these do add some character to the rake and the light to medium weathering just takes the edge of the clean finish and "sheen" of the plastic models.

Even though it is show here as a short train that would easily be at home on any layout if you had the space a nice long rake would be rather impressive representing these iconic trains.

Next week we will be utilising the both of the Tower Models BR van sets that have just been completed showing both a shorter train and longer rake.

Dapol 14xx

Dapol 14xx various liveries

£191.25

Weathered14xx

Dapol 14xx various liveries - weathered

£216.25

Dapol Banana Vans

4 livery options of banana vans

£42.50 each

Dapol Banana Vans

4 livery options of banana vans, custom weathered

£67.50 each

9th April 2020

Great Western Shunting

A few months ago we had a commision to weather eleven of the Minerva BR ex GWR iron mink and gunpowder vans. Knowing the new Dapol 48xx / 14xx was coming up we took the oppurtunity to get some of the Great Western liveried examples to weather for Train of the week.

The larger 25 inch letttering represent the earlier of the two liveries as shown here with 4800, the earliest livery of Autotank.

The biggest limitation for us here was the fact that there is not currently a ready to run example of a Great Western Brake van, hence why we have said it is shunting rather than a full train. The are kits for various GWR / BR brake vans on the market though from both the Parkside and Peco range of kits that build up well. The Parkside PS44 is the more recent kit though and an easier build in my opinion.

Here we have shown the later examples of the iron minks and gunpowder vans with smaller lettering along with 1432 in the later Great Western livery lettered GWR.

We do not normally stock the Minerva range of wagons but the above examples that have all been weathered through the workshop and are for sale along with the first of the stock Autotanks

Dapol 14xx

Dapol 14xx various liveries

£191.25

Weathered14xx

Dapol 14xx various liveries - weathered

£216.25

Minerva

Vans

Various Minerva Iron Minks and Gunpowder vans weathered

£67.50 each

2nd April 2020

Autotrain

With the arrival of the new Dapol Autotanks we could not ignore the classic Autotank and Autocoach pairing and has to be the first Train of the Week to feature the loco

So we are working our way through the brand new Dapol Autotanks with custom weathering and numbering for people and at the same time we have completed 3 of the basic models for stock. We have now completed a good number of customer's locos but are now waiting on more numberplates from Guilplates to complete the last batch.

Both the Autotank and Autocoach are produced by Dapol and we have lightly weathered them both just to take the edge off the plastic sheen to the pair. This is an iconic set for the western region that is small but equally at home on a small or large layout with no need for short cuts on the length of train!

Various liveries of both are available to cover the GWR and BR periods but stocks are running a little low either because Dapol are currently closed as we sell out from stock or have completely sold out either with us or with Dapol. Only a small number of the un-numbered ones were produced and these have been the first to sell out. A simple call can check what is currently available from stock. The basic analog ones are available now with the DCC fitted and sound fitted available later.

I have spoken to DCC supplies today and Dapol did not get the ones for sound fitting off to them before closing down so we expect these to take some time still after Dapol return to work.

Next week we will have again two more 14xx's but on shunting duties.

Dapol 14xx

Dapol 14xx various liveries

£191.25

Weathered14xx

Dapol 14xx various liveries - weathered

£216.25

Dapol Autocoach

Dapol Autocoach - various liveries clean finish

£170.00

Weathered Autocoach

Dapol Autocoach - various liveries weathered

£210.00

26th March 2020

Scottish Freight

Well, it has been a very busy day with the despatch of the brand new Tower Models Limited Edition Leith General Warehousing wagons but the workshop have worked hard to get the test sample set we received a couple of weeks ago weathered. We have also had the launch of the Dapol 48xx / 14xx / 58xx which had kept us occupied

Thought it would also be good to show the first picture in black and white given that the whole inspiration for the set of wagons was the above photograph.

.

We have actually used a kit built Class 17 Clayton to try to mirror the photograph. We were hoping to have the Heljan Class 17 test sample to photograph with the train but the only example that they had was the blue livery so we resorted to what we had.

We have produced a total of eight different numbers for the wagons and only a total of 25 of each wagon. We have used one of the Dapol BR grey brake vans to finish off the train.

The train looks very good and although not the length of the train in real photo looks very effective.

Here is a link to the wagons Leith General Warehouse wagons After all advance orders have been completed there is just six sets remaining out of the 25 sets produced. You are not restricted to buying the full set as we are selling the wagon individualy as well. The standard models are clean but the workshop can custom weather the wagon as required.

Things should calm down for a bit now. We have plenty of work to do and no doubt the new Dapol 14xx will appear in several of the upcoming Train oif the Week features.

We are going to do our best to keep this up as a weekly update during current events. We are still open for mail order sales during these difficult time but on reduced hours of 9.30 until 3pm.

Tower LGW

Leith General Warehouse wagon

£42.50

Tower LGW

Leith General Warehouse wagon - custom weathered

£67.50

Tower LGW Set

Leith General Warehouse wagons - full set of 8

£325.00

Tower LGW set

Leith General Warehouse wagon - full set of 8 all custom weathered

£525.00

12th March 2020

BR unfitted freight

Busy at present with the exhibition last weekend and preparations for the launch of the Dapol Autotanks next week but we did have time to complete a train for a customer last week which we thought was very nice and we would share.

This week we have completed a train of the Minerva Iron Minks and Gunpowder vans in BR livery, with a mix of degrees of weathering to the customer's specifications. The Great Western Iron Mink was a classic wagon and very successful with over 20000 entering service with a lifespan over over 25 years in service with the last of them being withdrawn from departmental service in the 1980's.

Keeping the Western region theme of the wagons we have paired them up with a Heljan BR 43xx in early BR black, again medium weathered.

Minerva actually produce ten different numbered BR grey vans but we have eleven in this rake with a single repeat which you are not likely to notice or remember when they are going round a layout. We just used a kit built brake van to complete the train, not sure of the origin and it was just whatever was around at the time.

Overall it looks very well as a classic unfitted van train with a western theme to it and it was something different for us to weather.

I have also got two further sets of the Minerva vans for the earlier and later GWR period to complete and will feature alongside the brand new Dapol 14xx's once we have had chance to complete some example of these with a light dusting to take the sheen of the plastic away from the model.

We do not normally sell the Minerva wagons but they are all still available directly from Minerva.

Here is a link to the available liveries of the Heljan 43xx 2-6-0 Mogul, it has been well received and some liveries are now sold out, the BR black has been especially popular! Heljan 43xx

.Next week we may or may not manage to update this depending on the launch of the Dapol 14xx and that the layout is currently down having been at Lincoln show the weekend before last.

Heljan 43xx Mogul

Various Liveries, clean finish

£662.15

Heljan 43xx Mogul

Various Liveries, weathered

£702.15

Heljan 43xx Mogul

Various Liveries, weathered with custom number

£727.15

27th February 2020

Distillery Traffic

This week we finally recived the first production samples of the new Tower Model limited edition Leith General Warehousing wagons and seemed to good to miss the opportunity to photograph these.

There are eight different numbers of these being released to make up a good Scottish themed train.

The wagons were used to transport grain to the various distilleries for Whisky production could be found even in the North East at times.

We have shown it here with one of the Tower Brass J39's and the plan is to now weather this set through the workshop and show it again in a later Train of the week.

We were hoping these would of been out at Christmas and in fact the bodies were completed in time but it turns out that Dapol have run out of wheel sets. As soon as they get restocks of these then they are first to be completed.

These were an iconic block running train for any Scottish themed layout and could be seen in rakes of up to 18 or more at times but with eight it makes a good realistic size train. Although not technically correct as there are differences in the roof detail, straps and doors, there is no way Dapol would tool up for such a unique vehicle but these will give a very good representation and the numbers being produced are very small and more than half of them are pre-sold now. These wagons also had a very long lifespan lasting from WW1 through until the withdrawal of the very last one in 1971.

We will not be doing one of these next week with all of the preparations for Kettering show. We have the one for the following week ready to go which is probably the week before we receive the new Dapol 14xx's.

We will revisit these featuring a Class 17 Clayton once the have been weathered in about 3 weeks time.

Tower Models Limited Edition Wagons

8 Number variants available of Leith General Warehousing Vans

£42.50 each

Set of 8 Vans

Full set of 8 LGW Vans

£325.00

Tower Brass BR J39

BR Late Crest J39, clean finish as used here.

£950.00

20th February 2020

AutoTrailer

Back to basic this week with one of the classic trains of the steam era with a tank engine coupled up with an Autocoach.

The shown items are both from Dapol with a late BR 64xx Pannier Tank couplied up with an earlier Great Western Autocoach in shirtbutton livery. Now I would of gone for the BR version of this coach to go with this loco but these two items came in together and the customer had bought them together to represent a later loco along with a coach that long overdue a repaint.

Anyway, the customer in the end has traded them in and bought a matching pair instead so we have put these two secondhand pieces through the workshop and lightly weathered them both for sale either together or more likely separately.

The main reason though is a reminder that the long awaited Dapol Autotanks are due for release in the next few weeks and the Dapol Autocoaches are a perfect companion for these in a small complete train that is equally at home on either a small or large layout. Once the 14xx comes out it is bound to feature on several weeks of Train of the Week.

Probably will not have time to do an issue of this next week with the imminent arrival of both the 14xx from Dapol and the blue version of the Class 03 from Heljan both due the end of the month and then having to start packing for Kettering show the first Saturday in March.

Secondhand Dapol 64xx

Secondhand BR lined green late crest 64xx, lightly weathered

SOLD

Secondhand Dapol Autocoach

Secondhand Great Western shirtbutton Autocoach

£200.00

13th February 2020

Civil Engineering Traffic

This week I wanted to feature another of the new locomotives from Heljan with the Class 33 but with 11 liveries it was a case of which livery to go for. In the end the descision was easy and we weathered up the last of the civil engineers stock we had from Heljan to make up a train.

The locomotive is a customers that is being weathered but has not yet reached that point so is shown here clean with 3 of the Heljan OAA's in Dutch livery and a fully repainted Dapol PIllbox brake van. As an idea of size the overall length of this train is approximately 128cm.

We had also given the workshop the very last of the Dutch Catfish that we had in stock and seemed a waste not to try them out at the same time as a separate train along the same lines. This set, with the OAA's parked up in the siding behind, is approximately 158cm in length.

There is a stock example of the Class 33 in the system being completed hopefully in time for Kettering show which is being completed as "Seagull" and of course we can complete any of the Class 33's with the customer's choice of name number and weathering through the workshop.

Then of course, we had to give it a try with a mix of them all together, which really pushed the limit on the size of train on our little layout at a length of approximately 236cms but would look good on a bigger layout. At the end of the day it is down to the available space but all three look "right".

Engineering traffic like this can be found all over the country carrying out essential maintenance and often seen in sidings when not in use.

Sadly much of the Heljan rolling stock is at the end of the line but we still have some stocks available. These are the last of the stock we had in Dutch livery though but it is all available for sale.

Next week will be a steam loco that also finished this week and then 2 more interesting ones to follow that we have been working on and have not touched on before; if they are finished in time.

Heljan Class 33

Various Liveries of Class 33

£466.65

Finished Class 33

Custom numbered examples of the new Class 33

£491.65

Weathered Class 33

Weathered and custom numbered examples of the new Class 33

£531.65

Finished Class 33

Named and numbered examples of the new Class 33

£516.65

Weathered Class 33

Weathered, name and numbered examples of the new Class 33

£556.65

Heljan Catfish

Heljan Dutch Catfish custom weathered

£100.00

Heljan OAAs

Heljan Dutch OAA custom weathered

£90.00

6th February 2020

Ballast Train

With so many launches in the last six weeks it has been difficult to find the time to indulge this feature but this week we completed a train for a customer rather than doing one for stock.

The brand new Heljan Class 50 came out not so long ago and a customer asked us to complete one of the revised Network South East Livery to closely approximate the above picture. Luckily we also still had stocks of the Heljan Catfish that are also in the image.

The green liveried Catfish are all sold out but we still have black examples available along with a couple of the Dutch examples mixed in. Heljan also supply loads for these, both full and half load and we have shown them here with the full loads that we have lightly stained rather than leaving them the bare plastic.

We have also finished the train off with one of the Dapol SR Pillbox brakevans that we have repainted into Dutch livery that we have also featured although the train in the picture does not has a brake van.

The Heljan Class 50 is certainly a superb model and has soon very well with three liveries already sold out and stocks of the remaining liveries running low already. We have shown the train here with eight Catfish but from the original image you can see it is a lot longer but looks effective with just the eight and could be longer or shorter to suit the layout. Stocks of the catfish are also running low now and the Heljan Dogfish have all sold out.

Here is a link to the remaining stocks of the Heljan Catfish Heljan Catfish

Next week hopefully we will have either a steam loco and coach or Dutch set using the recently released Class 33 depending on how we work through the backlog of orders.

Heljan Class 50

Various Liveries of Class 50

£594.15

Finished Class 50

Named and numbered examples of the new Class 50

644.15

Weathered Class 50

Weathered, name and numbered examples of the new Class 50

684.15

Heljan Catfish

Heljan Catfish - black

£79.95

Heljan Catfish

Heljan Catfish custom weathered

£100.00

16th January 2020

EWS Shunting

Sticking with last week theme of shunting we are moving forward in time frame with a later EWS train.

Just before Christmas Dapol released the later version of the ever popular Class 08 in various liveries. here we have taken the factory finished EWS version and given it a medium weather which just takes the sheen of the plastic of the standard factory finish

To match up with the livery we have used some of the Heljan VDA vans which are also in the EWS livery. These came out several years ago in various liveries and at the time the EWS livery was not that popular as there wasn't many locos in a matching livery. Now we have both the Heljan Class 37 in EWS and the Dapol 08

Together they look very well and it is a short but effective looking train that would not be out of place on any more modern layout at under 4 foot in length.

Here is a link to the new Dapol Later bodied Class 08's Dapol Class 08

Here is a link to the remaining stocks of the Heljan VDAs Heljan VAA / VDA and also the Heljan OAAs which are also very popular but coming to an end Heljan OAA's

Next week we will be busy with packing for Bristol show so we will not be doing a Train of the Week but hopefully will have a new one ready for the following week featuring the new Heljan Class 50's

Dapol 08's

Various Liveries of Dapol 08

£191.25

Weathered Dapol 08's

Weathered examples of the new Dapol 08s

£216.25

Heljan VDA

Heljan VDA - various liveries

£70.00

Heljan VDA

Heljan VDA's custom weathered

£90.00

9th January 2020

Shunting

In November a customer contacted us is regard to some of the Dapol Air Ministry tankers is if we would be able to re-brand some as Regent for him. Utilising the Air Ministry version seemed the best bet and we liked the idea of it.

Even better than expected, last year took the last of the last four Heljan Class B tankers that were in Regent livery to be converted into Shell BP livery, which have yet to be completed but this did give us the badges off the Heljan wagons spare. The customer was after six but these four would do the job, especially having the badges instead of transfers and from the pictures the customer supplied appear to be the same size, or at least close enough.

Using the Air Ministry Livery of the Dapol tanker we managed to match the shade of grey on the tanks to remove the Air Ministry branding rather than the more aggressive approach to removing the lettering, especially when the number was bhind the handrails and ackward to get to. Then we re-numbered them, all on both the sides and ends of the tanks and weathered including oil stains from the fillers for an overall nice effect.

For the loco we have gone for one of the new Dapol Y1 / Y3 BR Sentinels that has also been weathered through the workshop to represent a light shunting engine assebling the train for mainline use.

Have to say the new Dapol Sentinel is a lovely little loco and sets off this short train very nicely.